Boxing: Matthysse's underwhelming record in top bouts doesn't faze his promoter

ABS-CBN News

Golden Boy Promotions (GBP) president Eric Gomez is undaunted that his fighter, Lucas Matthysse, has tallied an unimpressive record against marquee boxers.

In scanning Matthysse’s fight record, ABS-CBN News found that the Argentinean world champion fought at least 6 established boxers during his 14-year professional career that saw him register a 39-4 win-loss record spiked with 35 knockouts.

Matthysse won two of those bouts: a third-round TKO conquest over American Lamont Peterson in 2013, and a 12-round majority-verdict victory over Russian Ruslan Provodnikov in 2015.

Matthysse, who will be staking his world welterweight crown against Manny Pacquiao over the weekend in Malaysia, has seen his road to stardom derailed several times after losing to former world champions Zab Judah (split decision in 2010), Devon Alexander (split decision, 2011), Danny Garcia (unanimous decision, 2013) and Viktor Postol (10th round knockout, 2015).“He lost those fights but those fights were very, very close fights and he fought those fighters in their prime,” Gomez said in a telephone interview.

Gomez remains upbeat about Matthysse’s chances, noting that age could be a factor that may go against Pacquiao.

“What Lucas will be facing now is an older Pacquiao who’s still very, very good despite his age. But he is an older Pacquiao. Someone who’s not in his prime anymore. He’s 39 years old now. He’s got many obligations now,” said Gomez.

“Is his head, mind and heart concentrated on this fight? That’s what we’re going to find out come Sunday morning.”

Gomez also corrected notions that Matthysse is just a one-punch, knockout-seeking boxer.

“A lot of Lucas’ fights, he showed a lot of his ability to box. He’s not just a brawler. He’s more of a boxer-puncher. His knockout ratio is very high because he’s a big puncher but he knows how to box as well,” disclosed Gomez.

Pacquiao will aim for Matthysse’s world welterweight belt in their 12-round title clash set Sunday morning at the Axiata Arena in Kuala Lumpur.